Umm Qais or Qays is a town in northern Jordan principally known for its proximity to the ruins of the ancient Gadara. It is the largest city in the Bani Kinanah Department and Irbid Governorate in the extreme northwest of the country, near Jordan’s borders with Israel and Syria.
Gadara was a centre of Greek culture in the region during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The oldest archaeological evidence at Umm Qais, extends back to the second half of the third century BC. and the site appears to have been founded as a military colony by Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Greeks. However, the site’s name “Gadara” is not Greek in origin, but rather a Greek version of a local Semitic name meaning “fortifications” or “the fortified city” suggesting the military colony was founded on a pre-existing fortified site.
Located on the boundary between Seleucid and Ptolemaic territory, the city was strategically important and was repeatedly the focus of military conquests throughout the succession of Syrian Wars between 274 – 188 BCE. The city’s military importance during this period was noted by the Greek historian Polybius’ describing it in 218 BCE as a fortress and “the strongest of all places in the region”.
